Banned by administrator from Windows 7 & 8 forums

[Poppa Bear]

As well as being a member of this forum, I have also been a member of Windows7 Forums for the past few years. And more recently a member of Windows8 Forums.

In Nov 2009, before joining Win7Forum, I did a tutorial in Techspot here, showing how to enable Windows Mail from Vista, in Windows 7. To complete the process, it was necessary to run several registry edits. These regedits were freely available to the general public as downloads from the Windows7 Forums.

In my tutorial I included these regedits as attachments, but for the convenience of non-Techspot persons, also provided links to the downloads in Windows7 Forums.

In 2010 I joined Win7Forums and did a similar tutorial there for enabling WinMail in Windows 7. Then about 6 or 7 months ago I joined the Windows8 Forums.

The last activity on the tutorial in Techspot Forum was done in May 26th 2010 ... which is over two years ago.

Suddenly, a few days ago, after the tutorial had been running for over two years, I was banned from both the Windows 7 & 8 Forums for"leaching files to another forum".

I was given no warning, or prior opportunity to defend myself, and was unable to contact the administrator Brink, to discuss the matter, as I could no longer log into the forum.

In all sincerity, I did not know they considered it leaching, when the files were freely available to the general public. In fact I didn't even know what the term leaching meant until they applied it to me.

In their forum posting rules it clearly states: We reserve the right to ban anyone who willfully violates the forum rules. In no way had I deliberately contravened the rules. If I had known I was breaking the rules I would not have done it. Yet I was presumed guilty without any right of reply.

Since I could no longer log on to discuss it with the administration, I asked my son to join their fourm to see if he could intercede on my behalf. He made a post in Win8 Forum, outlining my dilemma, and he too was banned.

I am utterly speechless over such appalling behavior, as I have contributed many posts, and several tutorials to Windows7 Forums, and posts to Windows8 Forums. And simply cannot understand why they have stone-walled me?

Does anybody know of any way to contact their administrartion without signing on as a member to try and sort this matter out?

 

[Marnomancer]

Not that I can help you much with it, but you have my support on it.
And if they don't understand Creative Commons, they're not worth a forum.
Has your IP been banned? Have you tried registering again and speaking to another admin or authority?

 

[Poppa Bear]

Thank you Marnomancer for your support. Yes my IP has been banned on both forums. My son had been able to register using my PC but after he was banned, for a time I couldn't even log onto their web site.

 

[Marnomancer]

If you really want your account back, try getting in through another PC.
Well, else, if you like TS, and can make the Regedits on your own, I suggest getting a free storage at Dropbox or Skydrive, storing your files there for download, and use TS as your platform.

More than anything, I think your popularity got under someone's skin or hurt an ego. Someone got pissed!

It so happens that some posters get very popular, and suddenly disappear - or get banned. Hope this doesn't happen at TS.

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Sorry to hear about that Poppa. Before getting to the part about your son, I was going to suggest maybe there was just a simple misunderstanding, but that doesn't seem to be the case. For whatever it's worth, in the future you should be able to attach those types of files directly to your posts here.

 

[bobcat]

Does anybody know of any way to contact their administrartion without signing on as a member to try and sort this matter out?

Since your IP got banned, you can use a proxy to re-register under a different name and PM an admin. And before some mod here considers warning me for giving such advice, I point out that use of proxies is not illegal.

Now, I won’t get into the technicalities of what their rules say and what you did, but if you believe they behaved unreasonably and have banned you unfairly, you may not feel happy belonging to their board anyway. There are many others you can join.

 

[HuntForTheWOrst]

Like bobcat said I you dnt think the descission was made fairly you can use a proxy to get on and reregister and message an admin but then again it might be against the forum rules to use proxies so yeah I've got nothing else to say .And im sorry about what happened Goodluck on getting back in.

 

[Poppa Bear]

Thanks everyone for such great support and understanding. Proxies are banned in the forum rules. But after listening to everyone's input, I'm not sure I want to go back to that forum. I re-checked the forum rules again, and there is no mention of leaching files whatsoever.

More than anything, I think your popularity got under someone's skin or hurt an ego. Someone got pissed!

I think you've nailed it right there. This suddenly happened after I had a strong disagreement with a 'valued senior member'. I mean why else would it be dormant for 2 years then suddenly surface for no apparent reason?

Cheers PB

 

[Zilpha]

I was banned from there as well - the reason given was "Bad attitude and trolling".

It was actually pretty funny - first time ever I had been banned from a forum of ANY kind, and I don't even know what the post was that was considered trolling. I messaged them a couple times trying to find out why, but eventually just gave up. That forum wasn't that great anyway.

 

[Poppa Bear]

I was banned from there as well - the reason given was "Bad attitude and trolling".

It was actually pretty funny - first time ever I had been banned from a forum of ANY kind, and I don't even know what the post was that was considered trolling. I messaged them a couple times trying to find out why, but eventually just gave up. That forum wasn't that great anyway.

Yep, that sounds about right. I confronted a guy in my last post for as good as calling me an outright liar. And that was after I said I had nothing more to say on the topic, which was off-topic anyway, and suggested he start a new thread dedicated to that particular topic.

My only regret is that I even bothered to respond to his first post which mocked the points I'd made in an earlier post. Guess it's a case of live and learn. Now a bit older but not sure any wiser! lol!

 

[Zen]

I know for various reasons, namely our ego's and maybe a little bit of vanity that we as humans don't like getting kicked out of anything. I know on an emotional level our first instinct is to either want to plead our case, or for most, strike back. I know what your going through Poppa Bear, trust me I know. But rather than trying with all your might to get back in to that forum and do anything, I would first take stock of their attitude and behavior towards you. After gauging their attitude and behavior, I would then take a moment and maybe think to myself........."is it really worth it"! Again, as people, we don't like to be kicked out of anything, but sometimes even with best practices of either diplomacy or fight, some times there's just "no winning"!

So give it some thought before you or your Son try to do anything else. Just take stock of that forum and it's Administration, think to yourself if it well worth your time to try to do anything. Or if it's best to maybe suck it up a little and maybe just walk away. Plus, you've got yourself a pretty nice little forum to be a member of, right here at TechSpot, plant your flag in the dirt here and enjoy the ride.

And as my martial arts instructor has told me for over a decade, sometimes the better man or woman is the one who turns and without provocation walks away. Sometimes not being the one to throw the punch or kick is the better person!

 

[DelJo63]

Sometimes the bean counters are more interested in "administrative authority" than trying to assist others with meaningful contributions. Your efforts speak for themselves and those that appreciate that effort see you much differently than the bean counter.

When working in teams (virtual or real), it is necessary to "leave your ego at home" and just do the best you can. Many times we are not in control of our fate and can only control our response to adversity.

Best wish, Jeff

 

[Poppa Bear]

Wow, I'm really quite blown away by the positive support I've had from the members of this forum. In fact this is the first forum I ever belonged to in my entire life. Which might help to understand why I didn't know about such things as leaching files.

Or if it's best to maybe suck it up a little and maybe just walk away

Yes, I think you're on the money there.

I just read a Google link from another person who was banned for life from the same forums. Three months later she got an email from the administration asking why she hadn't made any posts recently, and when she went to the forum, she was no longer banned. When my son had posted an apologia on my behalf, he made the comment that if the ban on myself was left in place, he wasn't sure he wanted to be part of the forum. When he was subsequently banned, the reason given was: "Banned for life as requested."

I don't think I'd want to go back now, even if offered redemption. As you say, this is a great forum, and one I learned so much from before joining, and have had so much help from since joining.

I live in a retirement village and repair other retirees PCs free of charge, as a hobby, and I've received so much help I've been able to use in helping them. I also belong to another fellowship where I help members who are financially disadvantaged with their PCs. A lot of it is XP, but it still works for them. So cheers to Techspot.

When working in teams .... it is necessary to "leave your ego at home" and just do the best you can. Many times we are not in control of our fate and can only control our response to adversity.

Have to agree. Problem is I did not control my response. I should have ignored and not reacted.

 

[Zilpha]

Banned for life as requested? That's just so precious!

I nearly fell off the chair with giggles.

 

[Andrea Borman]

Poppa Bear,I know how you feel and you are not the only one who has been banned from Seven Forums. It happened to me as well. I was banned for life from Seven Forums last October 2011 for doing absolutely nothing wrong.

What happened to me was I was posting on a thread about Windows Movie Maker 6 on Windows 7.When another member, user name Boohbah wrote on the thread"Andrea I have just seen one of your You Tube videos,I found it fascinating."

The video he was paying me a compliment on was one of my videos I made about my unhappy experience on Linux Mint forums. And so out of good manners I replied back to Boohbah on the same thread. I said "thank you for liking my video not all forums are like that. Some forums are very understanding and good."

Then 20 minutes later when I logged back into my account on Seven Forums I got this horrible ban message-

Seven Forums-
You have been banned for the following reason:
Persona non grata.
Date the ban will be lifted:Never.

I looked it up on Wikipedia and it said that Persona non grata means person not welcome.

True that member was off topic,and so was I for replying to him. As the thread was about Windows Movie Maker. But he is not banned but I am banned. But not only that but seven Forums banned me and they did it in a nasty way with a horrible and spiteful message. And they deleted all of my posts.

But I have talked to many other people on other sites and forums and read other posts on the web. And a lot of people have been banned from Seven Forums and their sister forums Eight Forums and Vista forums,for doing nothing wrong.

And if you look on the web you will see that too.

So we are not the only ones this has happened to.

But when I think about it now I cannot help wondering if that member posting off topic on the thread. Was a set up to get me banned. As they though I might reply back to him on the thread and by doing that I was off topic. But he went off topic first by talking about my video,when the thread was not about that. But as I said,he was not banned but I was.

But the way that you were treated by Seven Forums,banned for no reason does not surprise me. As many other people have had the same experience. The admin and the moderates of Seven Forums are not very nice. Andrea Borman.

 

[Andrea Borman]

As well as being a member of this forum, I have also been a member of Windows7 Forums for the past few years. And more recently a member of Windows8 Forums.

In Nov 2009, before joining Win7Forum, I did a tutorial in Techspot here, showing how to enable Windows Mail from Vista, in Windows 7. To complete the process, it was necessary to run several registry edits. These regedits were freely available to the general public as downloads from the Windows7 Forums.

In my tutorial I included these regedits as attachments, but for the convenience of non-Techspot persons, also provided links to the downloads in Windows7 Forums.

In 2010 I joined Win7Forums and did a similar tutorial there for enabling WinMail in Windows 7. Then about 6 or 7 months ago I joined the Windows8 Forums.

The last activity on the tutorial in Techspot Forum was done in May 26th 2010 ... which is over two years ago.

Suddenly, a few days ago, after the tutorial had been running for over two years, I was banned from both the Windows 7 & 8 Forums for"leaching files to another forum".

I was given no warning, or prior opportunity to defend myself, and was unable to contact the administrator Brink, to discuss the matter, as I could no longer log into the forum.

In all sincerity, I did not know they considered it leaching, when the files were freely available to the general public. In fact I didn't even know what the term leaching meant until they applied it to me.

In their forum posting rules it clearly states: We reserve the right to ban anyone who willfully violates the forum rules. In no way had I deliberately contravened the rules. If I had known I was breaking the rules I would not have done it. Yet I was presumed guilty without and right of reply.

Since I could no longer log on to discuss it with the administration, I asked my son to join their fourm to see if he could intercede on my behalf. He made a post in Win8 Forum, outlining my dilemma, and he too was banned.

I am utterly speechless over such appalling behavior, as I have contributed many posts, and several tutorials to Windows7 Forums, and posts to Windows8 Forums. And simply cannot understand why they have stone-walled me?

Does anybody know of any way to contact their administrartion without signing on as a member to try and sort this matter out?

By the way I forgot to mention,thank you for your tutorial on how to get Windows Mail working on both Windows 7 and Windows 8. It has helped a lot of people including me.

I am also a member of other Windows forums and I was on Windows 7 forums-http://www.windows7forums.com
and also Windows 8 Forums-Windows 8 Forums.com(nothing to do with Seven Forums.) And nearly every person there has been banned from Seven Forums for ding nothing wrong.

I thought you might like to read this thread on Windows 8 Forums here-http://windows8forums.com/cafe-8/5551-seven-forums.html

And other people also have been banned from Seven Forums. Seven Forums are very strict and they seem to be very selective about who they want as members. Andrea Borman.

 

[Poppa Bear]

Thank you for your comments and support Andrea, most interesting. And glad you were able to use WinMail tutorial. To be honest, in the end I stopped using WinMail as there are a few features that simply could not be made to work. I'm now using WinLiveMail, and after a bit of time adjusting to things being in different places, found it is quite satisfactory in the latter versions.

Cheers PB (y)

 

[Andrea Borman]

Thank you for your comments and support Andrea, most interesting. And glad you were able to use WinMail tutorial. To be honest, in the end I stopped using WinMail as there are a few features that simply could not be made to work. I'm now using WinLiveMail, and after a bit of time adjusting to things being in different places, found it is quite satisfactory in the latter versions.

Cheers PB (y)

Well I am using Windows Mail as it is better than Windows Live Mail which is slow. I am talking about Windows live Mail 2009 the Windows XP version.Which also works on Windows Vista,Windows 7 and Windows 8.Not the 2011 version.

But now I have Windows Mail on Windows 8 RP as well as Windows 7. And before that I was using Windows Mail on Windows 8 CP.

Poppa Bear wrote-
Yes, I think you're on the money there.

I just read a Google link from another person who was banned for life from the same forums. Three months later she got an email from the administration asking why she hadn't made any posts recently, and when she went to the forum, she was no longer banned.

Yes that was me. I was banned from Seven Forums in October and I am still banned for life from there. And when I log in I get the and ban message.

But the Windows 7 forum I have just been reinstated on,5 days ago, last Wednesday, was Windows 7 Forums-http://www.windows7forums.com which is nothing to do with Seven Forums. Both Windows 7 Forums and Seven Forums are completely different forums run by different people. The 2 are NOT connected with each other in any way. The same is also for Windows 8 Forums-http://www.windows8forums.com which is part or Window 7 Forums NOT Seven Forums or Eight Forums.

I was banned from both Windows 7 Forums and Windows 8 Forums 3 months ago,because I wrote a few silly posts,calling Windows 8,Windows 8 Nightmares Preview. And the other members did not like it, and it turned into an argument. And Mike Fara the admin, banned me, and 3 other members,Ted Myers,Dr Who and Ringsting,all at the same time.

But on I was reinstated on Windows 7 Forums "pending on good behavior." The admin said in his email. But I have been reinstated on Windows 7 Forums only. But not Windows 8 forums,I am still banned from there. But I am no longer banned from Windows 7 Forums.

The ban has also been lifted on Ted Myers and he is back on both Windows 7 Forums and Windows 8 Forums. But the other 2 members,Dr Who and Ringsting are still banned.

But I am still banned for life from Seven Forums.Well Seven Forums mean what they say, and will never lift the ban on me, or anyone else they have banned for life.

But I wonder what made Windows 7 Forums change their mind? Maybe they are hard up for members and that is why some banned members have been let back in. Andrea Borman.

 

[Mike Fara]

This is Mike Fara. I am the owner of Windows7Forums.com and Windows8Forums.com. First of all, I am here to address these concerns, as I was immediately notified of a linkback to this thread. I am currently typing with a hairline fractured left wrist in a caste/spring, so please bear with me, as I make sense out of these accusations. Firstly, when you are banned, there is almost always a good reason. We have prevented over 30,000 spam bot registrations on Windows7Forums.com using spam database cross-referencing in the last 6 months alone. A comment was made by Andrea Borman about her bans from our sites Windows7Forums.com and Windows8Forums.com. Unfortunately, this comes on the heels of just recently finally unbanning her for her trollish behavior. Let me set the record straight here:

• We have little to no contact with Brink or any other admin from SevenForums.com or other Win8 forum sites. We have offered to do link exchanges with them back in 09, literally, years ago, and some tit for tat disagreement prevented it. We maintain very little to no communication with them. We have had one moderator, however, Ken Johnson (MVP), feel pressured by them to go back to that site and that site only once they saw he was devoting time on our site. This was information relayed to me, so it may not be the whole story. Nonetheless, we have no problem with these other sites, but the last thing we would do is share our user data with them.

• On Windows7Forums.com, I proudly emphasize that we have at least 4 Microsoft MVPs on-board, a former nominee, and at least 3 who got the award directly for their contributions in helping others on that site, including myself.

• Our admin team consists of former government employees, consultants, and private industry 1099 independent contractors. Our next in line besides myself is a CCNA and MCSE. We act and behave professionally because our real life clients depend on it. I have been to the Microsoft Campus in Redmond because of this site and would not endorse a policy of arbitrarily banning anyone - no. This is against why I started these sites.

• If there is a misunderstanding about problems on windows7forums.com or windows8forums.com please do not feign ignorance. Contact us at admin@windows7forums.com. Read this internal document governing how we deal with ban objections and user rights. We actually put our all-volunteer team in a corner to protect the usage of our members. We have lost many moderators because they failed to comprehend why we did this.

• Again, we have no relation to any other forum sites except windows7forums.com and windows8forums.com. We have no information sharing or ban list sharing agreements with any other sites except online spam databases. Any higher level of cooperation (like with another tech forum) would be made public in an announcement. We care about transparency.

Re: Poppa Bear please be aware this is SevenForums and EightForums and not Windows7Forums.com or Windows8Forums.com. They have absolutely no relation. Our sites have been around longer, we do not pressure our moderators or follow them around, and we do not go crazy on our members. It is possible, though I can't speak for them, that they may have been worried about a DMCA claim if you copy and pasted full text articles.
As for Andrea, we had problems with her trolling her hate for Windows 8, and many users voiced their extreme discontent for her alleged ties to Hezbollah. This is why she was banned from windows7forums.com and windows8forums.com. Nearly every message started a flame war and the negativity was unbearable. As an admin team, we had to question whether or not someone like this could continue representing a fledgling forum (windows8forums.com), where people were deciding whether or not to join our site. There were also concerns about Hezbollah executing a U.S. citizen and hijacking aircraft (I knew people who died in the towers and the organization is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Our servers are located in the US. Andrea's arch nemesis, Ted Myers, who constantly goes hostile whenever he disagrees with anyone, was also unbanned recently; only to go off again on one of our administrators when he was kindly reminded a NVIDIA graphics driver update was already posted.
These types of people have made us amend our Terms of Service to ban the practice of what we call...







[FONT=Tahoma]"Argumentative Behavior: [/FONT][FONT=Tahoma]While disagreements, constructive criticism, and intellectual debates are welcome, a persistent pattern of argumentative behavior is not. Members who create conditions on the website that are unwelcoming and destructive are not permitted to use the website. This atmosphere of destructive activity is not consistent with the goals or objectives of the website and its services."[/FONT]


So I would like to let you all know, that at least on windows7forums.com and windows8forums.com, we care very much about what our viewers think. Over 95% of our bans are spam. We have gone way out there and unbanned people who were supposed to be banned permanently, hoping to give them another chance, only to see them go hog wild again. This is the nature of the beast, but I'd like to re-iterate windows7forums.com and windows8forums.com have no affiliation with Brink or his sites.

Andrea is also welcome back on our sites pending good behavior and less deconstructive argumentative kinds In this way, it works out... we do not arbitrarily end access to our network. It goes against every reason and purpose I started these sites for.

I've spent nearly all the money these sites have made (except on food and groceries) back into them. We've published FB apps and Android apps. I'm on the pre-release dev team for vBulletin. We just spent $10,000 to buy WindowsForums.com and WindowsForum.com so we can combine our sites and make sure people know who actually cares about running a real community - not one based on intimidation.

Thanks,
Mike Fara

 

[Andrea Borman]

Mike is right. Windows 7 Forums and Windows 8 Forums are different companies and websites and are NOT connected at all with Seven Forums or Eight Forums. But that is what I said.

As for my being banned from Windows 7 forums and Windows 8 Forums. Well the truth was that I was banned because I was being stupid. Or behaving stupid and childish.

When Windows 8 Consumer Preview came out,I like a lot of people did not like the Metro theme and the removal of the start button and Windows start menu. But at the same time I have a sense of humor and wrote in my posts on both Windows 7 and Windows 8 Forums."That we should go to the European Court Of Human rights and out President and get them to ban Windows 8.and bring our start menu back." And I also called Windows 8,"Windows 8 Nightmares Preview."

I don't deny that I said that in my posts over there. And while most people think that is funny and a joke,which it was. Forum admins and moderators on a Windows or software forum would NOT find it funny.

People go on a Windows forum to learn about Windows 7,Windows 8 and may have problems with their computer. And are looking for help. a lot of people have mixed feelings about windows 8 as they do Windows 7,Windows XP and Linux.

A joke is a joke in it's place but I went too far. What I mean is that what happened at Windows 8 Forums that eventually led to me being barred from both forums. It upset some other members and I admit it was not the first time it happened.

Before Windows 8 came along I was posting on Windows 7 Forums,their other forum. And one of the things a lot of forums don't like is if you post off topic. Like I did several times. For example,one thread was about running anti virus software. But instead of talking about that,I posted how I was unable to figure out how to use outlook express and the other email clients.

There was nothing offensive about that or any of my other posts on the forums. BUT the thread was about anti virus software NOT email clients. And so I was told by the moderators to start a new topic or thread if I wanted to talk about email clients. Or any other software problem not related to anti virus software.

And I admit that was not the first thread I went off topic on.

Also some other members did not like it when I posted on that same thread that,I don't believe in anti virus software. And I don't run any anti virus programs on my computer. anti virus is un necessary. Nothing legal offensive about that. But never the less,some of the members did not like that.

And me going off topic in the thread. Well that was not the first thread I went off topic in. Yes my off topic posts were all about software and Windows problems. Which is what the forum is about. BUT if for example the thread is about Windows Media Player,you DO NOT change the subject and talk about Firefox for example.

Which is what I often did. And I was told to start a new thread. Which I should have done and could have. But did not do.

And as for my posts about Windows 8 on both forums. Well at that time I was unhappy with Windows 8 but I went about it in the wrong way. By making silly and childish jokes and calling it"Nightmares preview" all did was wind up the other members.

And it ended up that some other members said they would leave the forum because of me. And some other members fired insults at one another and at me. And the whole thing turned into an argument.

Mike says one of the reasons I was banned was because they did not like what I wrote on my websites.And that they found out I knew the Hezbollah Milita. But I never once talked about that or posted about it on the forum.

And I do not believe that is the real reason I was banned. The REAL reason I was banned was because my posts about the Windows 8 OS and other posts on Windows 7 Forums.That often went off topic. Caused friction between me and some other members and some even threatened to leave the forum because of me.

And so the admin felt they had no choice but to ban me and some other members who were being insulting.

And I was told several times on Windows 8 Forums and Windows 7 Forums by the admin and moderators to stop. In my posts about Windows 8. If I had listened and had stopped they would not have banned me. In short I pushed them too far. And I apologize for being silly. And I have learnt my lesson.

Windows 7 Forums is NOT Seven Forums. Windows 7 Forums put up with me for 18 months before warning me. Which I should have taken heed of.

In a lot of other forums I would have been dealt with a lot harsher and a lot sooner. Certainly in Seven Forums if you go off topic even twice it you would be out the door.

And one of the reasons why I might have been banned from Seven Forums was that maybe a moderator or an admin had read my posts on other forums. Or seen my videos about me being threatened with a ban from Linux Mint forum which I was.

And my video that Boohbah posted on Seven Forums was about that. But I did not post it on the forum and I did not tell him to post it. I post under my real name and my user name is my real name. So he obviously found my video on You Tube or saw my posts on my website or forums about my experiences with forums. Which I write a lot about.

The moderators found out and banned me from Seven Forums. But that is just a guess. But some forums will not allow someone who has been banned or threatened with a ban from another forum on their forum.

But non of my posts were offensive and I did not post offensive content or insult other members. Like some insulted me. But as I said things got out of hand. but it was not only me who got barred from Windows 7 and windows 8 Forums. The other members who were involved got barred also. Andrea Borman.

 

[Marnomancer]

Ok, no one should take offense at this, because it's just a little rant by me that I thought I should do and with no intentions to offend or target anyone (I'm so reminded of Captain Cranky right now...). I appreciate your time and concern to reply, Mike Fara, but it does not change the fact that users (on any site) get banned for reasons which to the impartial bystander are absolutely lame. I hold no ill against you or your sites, however.

A note from the document Mike posted:

Prior Warning: This determination is to be made solely by the moderator, but may be overridden by an administrator. This would involve a
member posing an imminent threat to website access, content accessibility, its credibility, usability, and other matters discussed in the Terms
of Service agreement. Moderators are under no obligation to give members any information other than: the reason the moderation action was
taken. The prior warning MUST be done through the infraction warning system for data retention. There are some cases where there is no
prior warning permitted under infractions, and this is because of the member does not deserve prior warning for these actions.

Not to fuel this issue into an argument, but as humans we need to distinguish between and "suspected" terrorists and a real terrorist.
"Most bans are spam". That's a common thing to hear. But what about the remaining? Trust me, even 1 of them can make all the difference.

A somewhat non-related incident: A hotel inspector visits a hotel. It provides top-notch service to all its guests. However, the inspector bloke happens to be an unlucky one and out of the 10000000 guests he's the only one who gets bad service. He had its stars taken away. Made all the difference.

Am I making my point clear?

As for Andrea's situation (somewhat, on which I can comment):

SECTION 1.10
MODERATORS SHOULD ADHERE TO A NON-INTERVENTION DOCTRINE
(a) Non-intervention in the affairs of the forum users is to be expected in concepts such as members setting up their user profiles, presenting
information, arguing their points, and even going so far as complaining.
(b) We recognize that there are and will be many people on the forums who are dissatisfied with Microsoft and hate Windows 7. We must accept
this as part of the discussion and allow a person to speak their peace, even if this means bowing out of a conversation.

But here are some things anyone needs to watch before banning anyone on "suspicion" or on basis of what they do in off-forums life:
Interview 1 (Cyberpunks 1
Interview 2 (Cyberpunks 2
Interview 3 (Nasrallah
Interview 4 (Ibrahim

And now, before anyone asks, RT does not pay me to refer their links.

I of course realize that in the worst case I could be flamed, reported or even banned for this. But when I deem something wrong, I stand up for what's right. For example, if I were to notice racism here or anywhere else, I'll not only do my best to quell the dispute, but also see to it that the related authorities take note of it and issue is dealt with under legal mediation.
To cover my ar*e:

2. PROTECT FREE EXPRESSION FOR BETTER OR WORSE
Moderators should adhere to a lassie-faire doctrine, unless there is a feeling that the forum is imminent danger, a person is being verbally abused or
attacked, or spam is taking place. When "lassie-faire" is referenced, this is a coin termed to describe a policy of non-intervention in the affairs of the
forum users in things like setting up their user profiles, presenting information, arguing their points, and even going so far as complaining. There are and
will be many people on the forums who are dissatisfied with Microsoft and hate Windows 7. This is a great thing, because without these people, and
without any OS problems, there would be nothing to discuss, now would there? If someone posts an "I hate Windows 7" thread and "here's why", we
must accept this as part of the discussion and allow a person to speak their peace. In the past, we have had people leave the forum because
moderators have argued with these type of old school people who enjoy using outdated operating systems, etc.

The occasional flaming does even occur here when a member says something stupid and one of the other thread participants is less patient. I myself was once flamed for saying something stupid (which I thought was right at the time). After a few posts of insults and retorts, I asked what was wrong, and being told, I saw my mistake and apologized. But instead of flaming anyone in the first place, a polite "That's not really how it works" would work wonders.
Example, I once expressed grievance over Facebook's privacy policies. I was indeed agitated at the time. But another member very calmly provided counter-arguments and reasoning to my opinions. No flames, no animosity.

Either way, both sides have to be calm and rational. A paranoid conspiracy theorist would see Middle-Eastern and KGB spies everywhere.

I, among friends and in college debates/speechs and in conferences or expos, quite openly diss certain entities for their hypocrisy, tyranny or saboteur-attitudes (occasionally even the government). But those are my views and my views only. They do not represent TS/my college, its staff or any other members in any way. So why should a website be embarrassed about what their members do off the forums? If anyone can explain it to me I'd be very happy.

As for digital content rights, I'll take TS's example. The ToS says that when you post content you irrevocably give TS permission to redistribute it. BUT, the Intellectual Property Rights, under Creative Commons, states that when you post certain content on the internet, you automatically gain copyrights to it without applying for one. So as long as it's my own content, I'm free to post it wherever I want. So if for example tomorrow I decide to post the Effective Air Cooling series in a blog at which I'm a guest-blogger, I think that Julio by no means say "my precious!". lol

On another note:

9. WINDOWS 7 FORUMS IS NOT A "G" RATED FORUM OR A "FAMILY" FORUM
Windows 7 Forums is primarily a computer and technology forum regarding Windows operating systems. It has nothing to do with protecting people from
obscene or vulgar content. While there are some places where we must draw the line, we must also observe the rules of "lassie-faire" policies, unless
the user is intentionally being a troll and starting trouble. This can easily be determined by looking at their post history and seeing what is going on. In
the worst case scenario, if there is doubt, it should be brought up in the Staff Forums.

If this is included in TS's guidelines, Zen, you're well in the green-zone.

 

[Jay Pfoutz]

• We have little to no contact with Brink or any other admin from SevenForums.com or other Win8 forum sites. We have offered to do link exchanges with them back in 09, literally, years ago, and some tit for tat disagreement prevented it. We maintain very little to no communication with them. We have had one moderator, however, Ken Johnson (MVP), feel pressured by them to go back to that site and that site only once they saw he was devoting time on our site. This was information relayed to me, so it may not be the whole story. Nonetheless, we have no problem with these other sites, but the last thing we would do is share our user data with them.

Ahh, Ken! I miss working with him.

By the way, say hi to Captain Jack for me, please. I'm sure he'll appreciate that.

 

[Andrea Borman]

Mike Fara the admin and owner of Windows 7 forums and Windows 8 Forums,says he banned me because he found out about my websites. And he did not like it.

Mike Fara wrote-
Re: Poppa Bear please be aware this is SevenForums and EightForums and not Windows7Forums.com orWindows8Forums.com. They have absolutely no relation. Our sites have been around longer, we do not pressure our moderators or follow them around, and we do not go crazy on our members. It is possible, though I can't speak for them, that they may have been worried about a DMCA claim if you copy and pasted full text articles.

For anyone who does not know Windows 7 Forums,their sister site Windows 8 Forums is NOT CONNECTED in any way with Seven Forums and Eight Forums. Windows 7 Forums and Seven Forums are two completely different forums owned by different management.

See here-

Windows 7 Forums-http://windows7forums.com/
And their sister site Windows 8 forums-http://windows8forums.com/

Seven Forums-http://www.sevenforums.com/
And their other site Eight Forums-http://www.eightforums.com/
Seven Forums also have Vista Forums-http://www.vistax64.com/
Which is also part of Seven Forums like Eight Forums is.

Windows 7 Forums and Windows 8 Forums is owned by Mike Fara who is the admin and manager as well as the owner and they also have about 3 other admins.

Seven Forums and their other 2 sites Eight Forums and Vista Forums are owned and managed by different people who own Windows 7 Forums. As far as I know Brink is the admin of all 3 forums but I am not sure if he is the owner. What I am trying to say is that Seven Forums,Eight Forums and Vista Forums, are not the same website as Windows 7 and Windows 8 Forums.

Mike Fara wrote-
As for Andrea, we had problems with her trolling her hate for Windows 8, and many users voiced their extreme discontent for her alleged ties to Hezbollah. This is why she was banned from windows7forums.com and windows8forums.com. Nearly every message started a flame war and the negativity was unbearable. As an admin team, we had to question whether or not someone like this could continue representing a fledgling forum (windows8forums.com), where people were deciding whether or not to join our site.

There were also concerns about Hezbollah executing a U.S. citizen and hijacking aircraft (I knew people who died in the towers and the organization is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Our servers are located in the US. Andrea's arch nemesis, Ted Myers, who constantly goes hostile whenever he disagrees with anyone, was also unbanned recently; only to go off again on one of our administrators when he was kindly reminded a NVIDIA graphics driver update was already posted.
These types of people have made us amend our Terms of Service to ban the practice of what we call.

Mike the admin of Windows 7 Forums says he banned me because he had read my websites and seen some of my You Tube videos I presume and did not like what he read or saw. And he also said he had banned Ted Myers for being hostile to another member and also Dr Who for the same reason and Ringsting for another reason.

But I don't think he banned me because of my websites. I was banned because of my silly posts about Windows 8 calling it Nightmares Preview. Which as a result Ted Myers and Dr Who starting insulting me and so they got banned along with me.

Well actually it was quite funny because Ted Myers wrote in his post on Windows 8 Forums about me.

Ted Myers wrote-
I can no longer give my expert advice on this forum due to Andrea's behavior.
As I have to deal with nuts all day long in my job as a paramedic. I cannot deal with nuts while I am working at my hobby.
Andrea has made several unstable comments and has been encouraged to do so by another member.Please ban her.

And Dr Who, the other member got banned from the forums also because he insulted me.

Dr Who wrote-
Other members are leaving the forums because of Andrea. If you want to keep your little friend on the forums you can do so,but we won't say here.

The thread in which the argument took place on has now been deleted by the forum. But the ban on Ted Myers has now been lifted.And he is back on Windows 7 and Windows 8 Forums. His ban got lifted last Wednesday, the same time as mine.

And my ban from Windows 7 Forums has been lifted. And I just found out yesterday that I have also been reinstated on Windows 8 Forums,their other forum. So the ban on me has now been lifted from both forums.

But Dr Who and Ringsting the other 2 members are still banned from Windows 7 and Windows 8 Forums.

That's the story. Andrea Borman.

 

[jcgriff2]

.. I appreciate your time and concern to reply, Mike Fara, but it does not change the fact that users (on any site) get banned for reasons which to the impartial bystander are absolutely lame.

I was an Admin & Manager, MS Support, at TSF ( ~1 million reg members) for ~5 years and do agree with you to an extent about bans. However, I always went to great lengths to rectify unjust bans and rarely ever infracted or banned non-spam members.

My lenient policies now continue as owner & Admin at Sysnative Forums

IMO, Mike Fara does it right -

If there is a misunderstanding about problems on windows7forums.com or windows8forums.com please do not feign ignorance. Contact us at admin@windows7forums.com.

6 of the 8 Admins at Sysnative were banned at VistaForums, SevenForums & EightForums; 5 of us (including me) were banned on the same day last month - no reason given. I would estimate 15 or more on Sysnative staff have been banned at those 3 forums. It's simply insane.

I had never been banned from any forum in my life and so posted my shock - http://www.sysnative.com/forums/showthread.php/2882-Banned-from-z3r010-s-sites

They also removed my BSOD stickies that had been there for years with 100,000s hits/ downloads of the jcgriff2 BSOD OP File Collection app, used by many BSOD Analysts.

The banning & sticky removal is of course the owner's prerogative and . . . IMHO, his loss as well. I really don't care about the bans and removals as my primary concern is the same as yours - helping OPs.

PLEASE NOTE: the forums I mentioned & were banned from are NOT Mike Fara's sites.

Kind Regards. . .

John

 

[Mike Fara]

Mike Fara the admin and owner of Windows 7 forums and Windows 8 Forums,says he banned me because he found out about my websites. And he did not like it.

This does not reflect the true facts of the situation. We were constantly being bombarded with negative posts, in a manner which, after months of deliberation, our admin team decided enough was enough. This specifically regards abnormal/abusive behavior on the forums, where day after day, week after week you continued to excite your hatred for Microsoft Windows. Ultimately, our sites (Windows7Forums.com and Windows8Forums.com) are a place for enthusiasts to come together.

Our research into your background did find that you had claimed to be in communication with Hezbollah generals. In the country where our main server is located, Hezbollah is listed as a known terrorist group by the United States Department of State. This put is in even more of a predicament.

For anyone who does not know Windows 7 Forums,their sister site Windows 8 Forums is NOT CONNECTED in any way with Seven Forums and Eight Forums. Windows 7 Forums and Seven Forums are two completely different forums owned by different management.

See here-

Windows 7 Forums-http://windows7forums.com/
And their sister site Windows 8 forums-http://windows8forums.com/

Seven Forums-http://www.sevenforums.com/
And their other site Eight Forums-http://www.eightforums.com/
Seven Forums also have Vista Forums-http://www.vistax64.com/
Which is also part of Seven Forums like Eight Forums is.

Windows 7 Forums and Windows 8 Forums is owned by Mike Fara who is the admin and manager as well as the owner and they also have about 3 other admins.

Seven Forums and their other 2 sites Eight Forums and Vista Forums are owned and managed by different people who own Windows 7 Forums. As far as I know Brink is the admin of all 3 forums but I am not sure if he is the owner. What I am trying to say is that Seven Forums,Eight Forums and Vista Forums, are not the same website as Windows 7 and Windows 8 Forums.




Mike the admin of Windows 7 Forums says he banned me because he had read my websites and seen some of my You Tube videos I presume and did not like what he read or saw. And he also said he had banned Ted Myers for being hostile to another member and also Dr Who for the same reason and Ringsting for another reason.

But I don't think he banned me because of my websites. I was banned because of my silly posts about Windows 8 calling it Nightmares Preview. Which as a result Ted Myers and Dr Who starting insulting me and so they got banned along with me.

Well actually it was quite funny because Ted Myers wrote in his post on Windows 8 Forums about me.




And Dr Who, the other member got banned from the forums also because he insulted me.




The thread in which the argument took place on has now been deleted by the forum. But the ban on Ted Myers has now been lifted.And he is back on Windows 7 and Windows 8 Forums. His ban got lifted last Wednesday, the same time as mine.

And my ban from Windows 7 Forums has been lifted. And I just found out yesterday that I have also been reinstated on Windows 8 Forums,their other forum. So the ban on me has now been lifted from both forums.

But Dr Who and Ringsting the other 2 members are still banned from Windows 7 and Windows 8 Forums.

That's the story. Andrea Borman.

Ringsting was banned for allegedly sexually harassing a female member. We had the private messages. We also lost DrWho due to confrontational/continuous argumentative behavior and insults towards other members. These bans are not made arbitrarily, and warnings are nearly always posted beforehand. (Windows7Forums.com and Windows8Forums.com). We are choosing to ignore Mr. Fairbrother and his sites and continue to focus on the development of our own sites for the benefit of our visitors and members. Unfortunately, we can only please all of the people at all of the time. But in areas where we may be having difficulties, we are working in an area of improvement. Thank you.